We’ve either heard him say it, or we’ve heard someone quote
him saying it. It’s hard to forget it
once you’ve learned it, too.
Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, says, “If it’s about
love, it’s about God. If it’s not about
love, it’s not about God.”
Fitting words to go along with our lesson from 1
Corinthians, right? Paul is writing to
the people of Corinth about love. What
it is and what it isn’t. We hear these
verses so often at weddings, thinking this passage is about how a couple should
behave toward one another, and we might smile and nod as we think about how, in
our own relationships, this litany about love works.
But this was not a letter written to a couple about to be
married. It was a letter to the
religious leaders of a city. Paul was showing
them what it means to put love into action.
Yes. Love is an
action word.
There are seven words or phrases describing what love must
do: Love must be patient and kind. It
must rejoice in the truth and bear all things.
Love must believe all things, hope all things and endure all
things.
Conversely, there are eight words or phrases describing
what love doesn’t do. Love doesn’t envy or boast, it isn’t arrogant or
rude. Love does not seek its own
way. Love isn’t irritable or resentful
and it does not rejoice in doing the wrong thing.[1]
Sometimes these are hard words to live by. But we can do it. We can, because Paul tells us that “faith,
hope and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” We need all these things to live in
love. We need them to remember that if
is about love, it is about God.
We need faith. We
need to believe in the power of God. To
trust that there is something bigger than we are. Something we can learn about, grow with and
live for.
We need hope. We
need to look around us, at this broken world filled with broken people living
in challenging circumstances, and we need to see the changing environment, and
have confidence that God is present in all of it. We need to believe that God is in control.
We need love. We
need to experience big love. That big
love that shows how God is active in this world through the actions of the
faithful. When we observe and live God’s
love, actively changing ourselves and others—when we see patience and kindness;
when we and others stand up for God’s truth, willing to receive whatever
burdens that come with living out lives of faith; when we hope and believe and
endure for the sake of Christ—we are living and experiencing and sharing God’s
big love.
Paul said love is the greatest because how we express love,
how we show love, how we behave in love, is about God. If it’s about love, it’s about God.
Earlier today we heard the story of Jeremiah’s call. Jeremiah, like many before and after him, did
not want to be called into God’s service.
He didn’t trust his abilities to do what he thought God would expect
from him. Yet, God told Jeremiah not to
worry, that God would help Jeremiah. And
with a little convincing, Jeremiah agreed.
Each of us is called to live in love. To live lives that align with what God
expects. I know it can be hard to do and
be all that God calls us to do and be. We don’t always know just what it means
to be a Jesus Follower. We can easily
fall prey to self-interest and our own desires. So, thousands of years after
Jeremiah was called into God’s service, Paul gives us a short tutorial on how
to follow God’s call to love. It doesn’t
seem like it should be so hard to behave in love, but we humans don’t always
like to follow rules.
Even our Gospel today shows how fickle we humans can
be.
Remember last week when Jesus came to his hometown, how he went
to the synagogue, as was his custom, was handed a scroll and read from
Isaiah? Remember, he then sat down and
began to speak to those gathered?
They were so proud to have their hometown hero return. They were excited to listen to what he had to
say. And then, the story continues with today’s
Gospel, and these people who knew Jesus from childhood, and who were that
village who helped raise him, turned against him and even tried to throw him
off a cliff.
Why do you suppose that was?
Jesus told them what it means to act in love. He told them how throughout the Hebrew
scriptures, God showed big love. How God
would use the most unexpected people to share the Good News to the most
unexpected people. How God would include
people of different faith traditions or cultures, breaking down barriers—all for
love.
The people in Jesus home town didn’t want to hear
that. They didn’t want to be
challenged. They wanted to continue to
live their lives as they always had.
They didn’t want any of this inclusive God-love and they sure didn’t
want to go out of their familiar routines.
Who was this Jesus to tell them they weren’t doing it right?
Why was he interpreting these familiar Hebrew scriptures in
a new way? Why couldn’t they just live
as they have been? Didn’t he respect
them and know them any longer?
This story is known as Jesus first public act in Luke’s
Gospel. It sets the stage for his
ministry of love. It helps us understand
that love is action, that love might require us to change, that love is bigger
than any of us. But even though love is
all those things, even though it is bigger than we are, we are a part of the
BIG. We are needed to express that big
love in our uniquely sized ways.
We are part of the BIG love of God. We are!
When we worship together and hear the stories of how God
sent Jesus to earth to teach us, again, that we are beloved children of our
creator and that we have responsibilities to shower the love of God, and we
then DO it, we are a part of the BIG love.
Jesus teaches us how to be in relationships with the people
we are close to, and he shows us how to be expressions of love to people
outside our circles. He walked in this
world, talking to people who believe differently, who look, talk or act
different, who live differently, people of all status, people with all kinds of
illnesses, all kinds of brokenness. All
who need to know the love of God in their lives. All who need to know that they matter to
their Creator. All who have value. All who can change because of God’s love as
shown to them through us.
Jesus teaches us why we need to change. He teaches us what to look for in ourselves
and in the world. He teaches us how to
pray. He teaches us how to embrace
others. He teaches us how to respect the
dignity of others. He teaches us how by
doing all these things, we can grow.
The story of the Grinch just came to me. You know, that Dr. Seuss character whose
heart is two sizes too small at the beginning of the story. Who wasn’t a part of the community, who was a
curmudgeon, and a complainer -- Who stole what he thought was Christmas—the
glitter and glam, the gifts and the gluttony
-- Who then, after being invited into their circle, he experienced the BIG
love in Whoville, and recognized that love is not about things and stuff but
instead about how we love one another for who we are? That guy?
He experienced unconditional love and his heart grew three sizes in one
day.
That’s the Gospel.
That’s the change Jesus is trying to make in the world.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus is helping us see all those
things we need to change but don’t want to change, for whatever reason. He’s showing us that when we are willing to
show love, as Paul wrote about, then God’s BIG love can change the world.
Oh, but those folks in Nazareth weren’t quite ready to hear
what Jesus had to say that day. For the
next three years, folks some folks will, and others won’t, see themselves in
his messages. What’s even more important
is that some will see themselves, and they will not like it because they just
don’t want to change. They don’t want
change so much that they will seek Jesus, arrest him, give him a trial, beat
him and hang him on a cross, hoping that the influence of this change-maker
will end with his death.
But for today, at this first public act, Jesus slips
away. He slips away to share God’s love
in new ways. Because, if it’s about
love, it’s about God.
Let us pray.
Love is patient; love
is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not
insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in
wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…
Dear God, help us to
live these active words about love each day.
Let us be a part of your BIG love.
Amen.